Architecture of Resignation: Photographs from the Mezzogiorno - Hardcover

Wolke, Jay

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1935195131 ISBN 13: 9781935195139

Publisher: Center for American Places, 2011

Synopsis

From 2000 to 2007, Jay Wolke photographed in the south of Italy to capture the complexity of a region that is colloquially known as Il mezzogiorno. What he found in this historic and often troubled landscape was an elaborate set of physical, social, and political forces manifested in an extraordinary tapestry of visual information.

Both referential and suggestive, Wolke’s pictures reveal the marks of a long line of invaders, conquerors, and occupiers from the Greeks to the Spanish to the Camorra. Architectural and structural adaptations and “resignations” are evident in every scene and serve as the photographer’s focus. Although the landscape is marred by layers of dysfunction and greed, we can’t help but view it through the lens of the timeless belief in the bel paese—the beautiful country.

About this title

About the Author:

Jay Wolke is professor in and chair of the department of art and design at Columbia College Chicago, and the author of Along the Divide: Photographs of the Dan Ryan Expressway and All Around the House: Photographs of American-Jewish Communal Life, the former also published by the Center for American Places.

About this edition

• Publisher: Center for American Places
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1935195131
• ISBN 13: 9781935195139
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80